Travel content isn’t king, it’s clerk

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Right Pants #006: Video report from the Grassy Knoll The problem I have with that word “content” — whatever that is — can’t be blamed on a dictionary. Because “content” isn’t there, yet. Not the web-version of content anyway. (Look it up, then see 40 tries a blog made to sum it up.) This is the same “content” famously called “king” back in … Read on

Right Pants gets the Abe Bump

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Episode 004: I was delighted to learn recently, viaSkift.com, of the existence of a “Bourdain bump.” Apparently whenever Travel Celebrity Anthony Bourdain picks a place to do a show, that destination sees a huge rise in public interest. In the recent case of Sicily, Priceline.com reported an 88.8% jump in searches for Sicily airports over the following 48 hours — that compares with … Read on

Video: “Romania sabotages Travel Journal Poll”

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Episode 002: Have you seen travel journals lately? Most are bulky, frilly, over-the-top books with wide-ruled paper (ie unusable), arty paper with background motifs ON THE PAGES, not to mention covers that beat “travel” over the head with retro maps or illustrations of jet-set couples toting vintage bags. Or maybe it’s just me? I wanted to know, so on behalf of THE RIGHT … Read on

Right Pants: “How to remember travel?”

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Welcome, after many delays and doubts, to the debut of THE RIGHT PANTS. For Episode 001, I’m discussing how to remember travel (a subject I recently kicked around for a National Geographic Traveler article). Often I feel overwhelmed by the sheer outlets for “documentation” on travels — posting photos/quips by social media, taking photos on a digital camera too, often video on a … Read on

Sketches from my travel journals

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The best way to remember a trip isn’t just slowing down to really be present in a place. Instead, as I wrote for the National Geographic Traveler today, it’s STOPPING altogether. For me, that is often to draw a little something that catches my eye. That the results won’t win any awards hardly bothers me. Here’s a handful of sketches that fill my … Read on